CH 21

The upper couplet says—Xiju Treasure Land Millennium Prosperity1Good things are in the place, so this place has been prosperous for thousand of years, and the blessing shines on this family, while the lower couplet says—Funjinjiamen, everything is prosperous2Everything in this family will have good luck, and the words in the middle are ‘Happy New Year’. Luo Xiao turned his head to the several Spring Festival couplets glued on the wall and listened to the constant sounds of firecrackers coming in all directions, and turned happy. But alas, “Uncle, you took my food away again!”

“Hey, Xiaoxaio, come on. Uncle already said to you that this is not called stealing food, it’s called taking a bit to taste, okay?” Although a little ashamed that he was caught red-handed, Luo Yong still tried to maintain his expression and answered him with composure.

“Do you really mean it?” Luo Xiao couldn’t stop the twitch in the corner of his mouth, “so why do you need to taste my food like four or five times?”

“Haha, this, I did that?” Luo Yong moved his hand and touched the back of his head and grinned, then he clapped his hands, “Right, I remembered that there are some things left to do. Xiaoxiao, little uncle will take his leave first to do something!”

He looked at the departing back of his little uncle who was getting further and further away, and shook his head with a dumbfounded face, “This little uncle, what’s wrong with him? He’s actually so childish.”

AN: (Thorn could not help but complain: Hey, as a child who is only ten years old, is it really good to say this? Luo Xiao shot him a disdainful glance: My soul is already over thirty years old, okay? My age is more than ten years older than his little uncle! Thorn: …if you say so.)

“Come, it’s New Year’s Eve today. We will eat dinner here together with all our family members. I wish you all to have a prosperous encounter in this new year, and for everything to go in good direction for all of you.” Grandpa Luo was the first to stand up and raised his glass to wish all of the family members.

“Yes, thank you dad.”

“Thanks grandpa.”

The surrounding family members also stood up and lifted the glass at the same time.

“Good, good, good! Come, try the vegetables, try the vegetables.” Grandpa Luo smiled happily and went to sit back on the chair. Then he motioned to the direction of the table where many vegetable dishes were placed and said.

Having some pork, chicken, duck, fish, and some vegetable dishes was already considered good in this time. Despite not being lavish like that in future generations, the atmosphere was filled with warmth and laughter.

Looking at the noisy scene of his family members on the dining table, Luo Xiao’s eyes involuntarily became slightly moist. So many years had passed. Starting from the time his mother passed away because of overworking, he slowly lost contact with his mother’s family. Moreover, his lover at that time was male like him, so he unintentionally or intentionally stayed away from them. The only one left who he still had contact with was his cousin, who was his uncle’s son. It was just a kind of bad luck for him that this cousin turned out to be a white-eyed wolf3bái yán láng—white eyed wolf; means cold-hearted or cruel person in disguise!

The dinner ended, and the men gathered around the fireplace to talk, while the women started to cook dumplings. Everyone patiently waited for the time to tick off at twelve o’clock and for the clock to ring.

“Xiaoxiao, do you want to sleep?” The eldest aunt didn’t go after the other women to help cook dumplings as she was still pregnant. Instead, she sat back by the fireplace and started weaving clothes for the baby. At this time, she noticed Luo Xiao yawning, so she turned her head and asked worriedly, “If you are drowsy, go to bed and doze off for a while. We will call you up when it’s twelve o’clock.”

“It’s fine, I’ll just wait for a bit longer.” Luo Xiao rubbed his eyes. Really, staying inside a child’s body is not very convenient. He became sleepy just after staying for a while.

A few men who were chatting at the side heard their conversation and also persuaded him, “It’s okay, you go and sleep for a while. You children should be asleep at this time of night. Ah Run, go with Xiaoxiao to sleep for a while. I’ll call you up later to eat dumplings.”

“En, alright,” Zhao Run nodded, then straightened his feet to walked to Luo Xiao’s side before pulling him, “Xiaoxiao, let’s go, brother will accompany you to sleep.”

“Okay.” Luo Xiao didn’t refuse any more and was pulled into the room by Zhao Run without waiting for him to react, “Brother, do you sleep on the inside side or outer side?”

“I’ll sleep on the outer side, so that you don’t have to worry about falling down.” Zhao Run rubbed Luo Xiao’s small head, “Xiaoxiao, I heard from auntie that your sleeping position is very bad. You often fall out of bed.”

“No, it’s because the bed is too small,” Luo Xiao muttered softly as a response. He was accustomed to sleeping on a kingsize bed, and the small bed right now only measured about one meter in terms of wideness, so it was not surprising that he would fall off the bed when sleeping.

“What did you say?”

“Nothing, I’m going to sleep first!” Luo Xiao removed his clothes and went straight to bed. Before long, his breathing turned even and he fell asleep.

Zhou Run threw a look at Luo Xiao who was unconscious on the bed and also followed suit without wasting any time. Honestly, he very badly wanted to sleep. If it weren’t for the fact that he wanted to save face, he would have directly let his sleepiness swallow him.

When Luo Xiao woke up, he realized that it was already dawn. It must be because the adults saw him and Zhao Run sleeping deeply that they decided not to wake them up. He looked at his side and found that it was empty. He knew that Zhao Run must have gotten up early. He dressed himself with his clothes and exited the room.

“Grandma, good morning.” Luo Xiao went to the kitchen after he finished washing up and found his grandma sitting alone behind the stove and lighting the fire.

“Xiaoxiao is up?” Placing a handful of firewood inside the stove hole, Grandma Luo patted the dust from her hands and proceeded to open the lid of pot sitting on the top of the stove. “There are still some smoking dumplings left at the table, go and get them. You can go and eat them with a pair of chopsticks.”

“Okay, grandma.” Luo Xiao got a pair of chopsticks and approached the table, and ate the still smoking dumplings, “Eh, these are my favorite dumplings with leeks filling. Grandma, it tastes so good!”

“Eat more if it’s good. If it’s not enough, grandma will give you more.”

“No, it’s enough, it’s enough.” Luo Xiao swallowed a few dumplings and then lifted his head to inquire, “Right, grandma, where did the others go?”

“Your grandpa, he’s gone out to have fun with his radio.” Grandma Luo replied with a smile. “Then your eldest aunt and eldest brother-in-law went to their in-laws’ house. Your little uncle is probably still asleep. As for your mother, someone arrived to look for her just now and has gone out.”

“Huh? Look for my mother?” Luo Xiao was perplexed, what could be going on at this time? “Grandma, do you know the person who came to see my mother?”

“Oh, it’s your mother’s good friend Xu Li.” Grandma Luo briefly thought for a moment and responded.

“It turned out to be Aunt Xu.” Luo Xiao slightly relaxed. Anyway, it was fine as long as that person didn’t come from that man’s family.

“Grandma, I’ve finished eating.” Luo Xiao opened his mouth after taking the last bite. After that, he washed the dishes, “I’ll go out to play for a while.”

“Okay, it’s snowing a little outside so be careful on the road.”

“Alright, got it.” Luo Xiao came out of the house, and the cold breeze caused him to tremble subconsciously. “Hiss, the wind is really cold. Sure enough, it’s still warmer inside the house.”

The reason behind Luo Xiao’s leaving this time was to search for the place where the treasures were hidden. As today is the first day of the first month of the first lunar month, most of the family members were busy going to other relatives’ and friends’ houses, so his plan of going out could be done smoothly. It would take him two hours of walking to get there as the distance was not that far. As of now, it was only six o’clock in the morning, and he could return just in time for lunch.

The moment he decided to start, Luo Xiao dashed in the direction of his destination using his tiny legs. At last, he got to his destination after one hour and a half. He looked at the hillside filled with several dead trees and grass. Who would have thought that a treasure of great value would be placed below this ground?

Luo Xiao pulled out the treasure map from the space, and began to move forward, basing the route marked on it. While doing so, he also got a few branches on the ground that still had dead leaves from them and wiped away the traces of footprints left while he was walking.

After a lot of situations of comparing and confirming, Luo Xiao fixed his eyes on the seemingly two normal stones placed randomly in front of him and finally confirmed that this was the location of the treasure he was looking for.

Based on the procedure written on the treasure map, Luo Xiao picked up these two stones and placed them at their respective location. Just when the last stone landed on the ground, a slight tremor came from the ground.

A stone slab gradually moved away, and a hole about one meter square appeared below. Lip Xiao attentively approached the edge of the hole. When he became certain that there was no mechanism around, he poked his head in and the sight of three boxes neatly arranged together inside entered his sight. The boxes were made of wood with different lengths. He reached out and picked the three boxes one after another.

Luo Xiao felt lucky that the three boxes didn’t have any locks, so he was able to open them without any obstruction. He found many scrolls and calligraphy inside upon opening the rectangular-shaped wooden box.

He picked up one of the scrolls and opened it. Oh, this, it turned out to be the “Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains”4Painted by Huang Gonwang for a fellow Daoist named Master Wuyong and represents Huang’s greatest surviving masterpiece. painting made by Huang Gonwang of the Yuan Dynasty? Could it be that this calligraphy and paintings were all real?

He placed the calligraphy and paintings back on the box with care, and proceeded to open the larger wooden box among the remaining two. The second he opened it, he was taken aback by the colorful jewels inside. Pearls, Hetian Jade, Jadeite in different colors, and so on, it’s all inside.

He breathed deeply for a while before he resumed his action to open the last wooden box with a controllable eagerness this time. But when his eyes landed on the things inside, he furrowed his brows involuntarily: Why is there a pile of ordinary stones inside?

Yet, he shifted his attention to the other two wooden boxes he opened first and all of their contents were of great value. He firmly believed that these stones must have something special in them. Otherwise, the person who placed these treasures inside the ground would not have buried it together with the other two boxes, and that person even placed this box at the bottom intentionally.

As he thought of this, Luo Xiao became curious. He was thinking about what was special about those stones.

However, looking up at the sky, he estimated that it was almost time to go back. So with a single thought, the three wooden boxes disappeared and reappeared inside the space.

After that, Luo Xiao removed the two stones out of their respective locations and the stone slab slowly closed again. He even paid great attention around to make sure that he didn’t leave any traces behind. After all, he couldn’t be so sure that there would be no one who would inadvertently come to this place in the future. Anyway, it was better to be careful.

After harvesting three boxes filled with treasures, Luo Xiao dashed to the direction of his grandmother’s house with uncontrollable joy and eagerness. It was a pity that when he was running past an alley located behind his grandmother’s house, someone suddenly appeared by his side and knocked him on the ground without paying attention.

Before Luo Xiao could come back to his senses, he was dragged away hastily to hide behind the piles of the surrounding houses, and that person even rudely covered his mouth tightly using his hands…